Means for elevating liquids.



vll/

Patented Oct. I, I90l.

(Application filed May '7, 1900.)

C H ATKINS MEANS FOR ELEVATING LIQUIDS.

(No Model.)

E 55 E fld/ W UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

CHARLES H. ATKINS, o onIoAeo, ILLINOIS, AssIeNoR ro WARREN WEBSTER, OF MERCHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

MEANS FOR ELEVATING LIQUIDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,874, dated eaoea 1, 190i.

Application filed May '7, 1900.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES HENRY AT- KINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Elevating Liquids, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

Myinvention relates to means for elevating liquids by vacuous action or, more technically speaking, by atmospheric pressure; andit has for its primary object to provide improved means whereby the lifting capacity of atmospheric pressure may be augmented by the introduction of pistons of air or some other fluid lighter than the liquid to be raised into the column being lifted.

A further object of my invention is to provide automatic means whereby this method of raising liquids may be applied at or near the base of a column and the liquid prevented from escaping when the vacuous action ceases.

With these ends in viewmyinvention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts by which the said object and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, of a steam-heating system to which my invention is applied for raising the water of condensation out of the radiator. Fig. 1 is a similar view illustrating a modified form of valve hereinafter described. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view of an automatic valve used in connection With my invention. Fig. 3 is asimilar section taken at right angles to the section shown in Fig. 2. Fig. at is a side elevation, partly broken away.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a few examples of the many uses to which the invention may be advantageously applied.

In Fig. 1 I have shown it applied to a steamheating system for raising water of condensation out of the radiators 1. In this example the vertical pipes 2 are the pipes through which the water rises to a pipe 3, common to all the pipes'2, and connected by pipe 4 to a Serial No. 15,664. (No model.)

vacuum-pump 5. Each of the pipes 2 at or near its lower end is provided with a small inlet valve or cock 6 of any suitable construction for admitting air to the pipe 2 and producing the sectional isolated columns of liquid 7, alternating with air-spaces 8.

In Fig. l I have shown the pipe 2 provided at or near its lower end with an automatic valve 9. (Shown in detail in Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive.) The purpose of this valve is to permit the air to enter the pipe 2 for producing the sectional columns of water 7, while preventing the water from escaping through the air-inlet when the device is not in action. This automatic valve consists of acasing composed of two parts 10 11, to the upper one, 10,

of which is connected the pipe 2, while to the lower one is connected the pipe which leads from the radiator or other place from which the water is to be drawn, the water rising into the part 10 around a valve-seat 12, formed on the part 11. This valve-seat 12 is provided with a transverse air-passage 13, which communicates with the atmosphere, and a vertical air-passage 14, which places the passage 13 in communication with a valve-cage 15, in which is located a ball or other suitable valve 16, the cage having suitable apertures for the escape of the air rising through the passage 14 into the pipe 2, the cage being screwed or otherwise secured to the valve-seat portion 12. The weight of the ball-valve 16 is such that it requires the combined buoyancy of the water or liquid and the pull of the vacuum in the pipe 2 to lift it'from its seat,'and when it rises-from its seat it is evident that the at mospheric pressure will force air into the pipe 2 through the passages 13 14, as described, and produce in the pipe 2 the alternate sections of air and liquid. It is also apparent that when the vacuum-pump ceases to operate the valve 16 will seek its seat and prevent the escape through the air-passages l3 14 of any water or liquid that there may be above the valve-seat.

I do not claim in this application the method of elevating liquids and controlling their passage through pipes or conduits by reducing the atmospheric pressure upon the surface of the column of liquid and simultaneously drawing into the ascending column a quantity 0f air, the entrance of which is automatically controlled by the combined action of the suction and the upward pressure of the liquid, as that forms the subject-matter of an application filed by me March 8, 1900, Serial No. 7,766.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In means for raising liquids by vacuous action, the combination of a passage or pipe, having an air-inlet near the lower part communicating with the atmosphere, an automatic valve for controlling said inlet exposed to contact With the rising column of liquid in said pipe or passage, and an exhausting device communicating with the upper portion of said pipe or passage, whereby air is drawn into the ascending column of liquid through said inlet and the movements of said valve are controlled both by suction and buoyancy.

2. In means for raising liquids by vacuous action the combination of a pipe or passage having near its lower end an inlet for a fluid lighter than the liquid to be raised, means for producing suction or vacuous action above said inlet and a buoyant valve for closing said inlet exposed to contact with the rising column of liquid, substantially as set forth.

3. In means for raising liquids by vacuous action the combination of a pipe or passage having near its lower end an inlet for a fluid lighter than the liquid to be raised, means for csasv producing suction or vacuous action above said inlet and a valve exposed to contact with the rising column of liquid, whose specific gravity is such as to require the combined lifting power of said liquid and said suction to lift or open it, substantially as set forth.

4. In means for raising liquids by vacuous action the combination of a pipe or passage having near its lower end an inlet for a fluid lighter than the liquid to be raised, means for producing suction or vacuous action above said inlet and a gravitating valve exposed to contact with the rising column of liquid closing said inlet and adapted to be raised by said suction assisted by the lifting power of said liquid, substantially as set forth.

5. In means for raising liquids by vacuous action the combination of a pipe or passage having an inlet near its lower end for a fluid lighter than the liquid to be raised, means for producing suction or vacuous action above said inlet, a ball-valve arranged in said pipe or passage and closing said inlet and a cage for confining said valve, open to permit the rising column of liquid to reach said valve, whereby said valve is subjected to both the liquid in said pipe or passage and the suction or vacuous action produced therein substantially as set forth.

C. H. ATKINS.

\Vitnesses:

EDNA B. JOHNSON, F. A. I-Iorxms. 

